Interior + Spatial Design

Designed for students planning to pursue a professional career in Interior + Spatial Design, our B.F.A. degree program emphasizes a three-dimensional approach to creating humane, enabling, and ecologically sensitive interior environments for living, working, and recreation.

About Our Program

Designed for students planning to pursue a professional career in Interior Design, our NASAD accredited program aspires to excellence in teaching and instruction understanding the rigors of an ever-changing industry. We offer our students the highest standards of academic quality in interior design education allowing them to launch a successful and rewarding career leading to NCIDQ certification.

This program focuses on studying the relationships between people and their environments, emphasizing a three-dimensional architecture-based approach to examine, understand and design humane, ecologically sensitive solutions for various types of spaces. Individual attention, small class sizes, and collaboration are fundamentals within the program.

Students are encouraged to develop their own individual approach to visualization and design problem solving. Each level of the student’s education engages knowledge and skills in discovery and resolution, critical and imaginative thinking, verbal and visual communication. Through hands-on studio-based learning and experimentation, students will be exposed to emergent technologies, and a range of graphic and computer skills allowing for a wide range of career options and opportunities.

Opportunities

Students in our Interior + Spatial Design program can take advantage of opportunities ranging from study abroad to membership in our student interior design club. All students will complete internships before graduating from the program and many will be involved in community learning projects. Students also have the opportunity to design for local clients and to enter design competitions. Students exhibit their work annually at the NY11+ exhibition in Albany and New York City. These are just a few of the many opportunities available to students in our program.

NCIDQ Qualification

Our graduates are prepared for entry level positions in the field of interior design. After the appropriate number of work hours, interior designers can take the NCIDQ (National Council for Interior Design Qualification) exam. You can learn more about the exam here.

Study Abroad

Students in the Interior + Spatial Design program have the opportunity to study abroad in London during the second semester of their junior year. Summer study abroad options are also available. Please visit our Global Education page to learn more.

Interior Design Club

The Interior Design (IND) Club at Sage College of Albany provides an opportunity for students to connect with one another outside of the design studio. The IND Club is a part of the college’s student government organization and hosts a regular lunch and learn series, organizes a fall outing, and does volunteer work, among other activities. This year the IND Club will become an official ASID student chapter!

New York Eleven Plus

The Interior + Spatial Design program participates annually in New York Eleven Plus (NY11+). NY11+ is a collaboration of prestigious New York State educational institutions offering four-year programs in interior design. Each year the exhibition showcases student projects and accomplishments at the Legislative Office Building in Empire State Plaza. In 2014 student work was also shown at the Grohe America Showroom in Manhattan. You can view photos of NY11+ here.

Volunteer Opportunities

The Interior + Spatial Design program provides students with a variety of design-related volunteer opportunities. Our successful Habitat for Humanity project gave students the opportunity to contribute to their local community. The project was covered local media, including the Times Union. In addition, this year our students will participate in CANstruction for the first time!

Exhibitions

Sage IND students have many opportunities to exhibit their work. An annual student show in the Little Gallery showcases the work of our junior and senior classes and our seniors are also part of the annual BFA exhibition in the Opalka Gallery. These exhibitions are open to the public and provide our students with an opportunity to show their work to a wider audience.

Additionally, students have presented projects to clients throughout the capital region and student work has also been exhibited at NeoCon in Chicago. You can view images of our exhibitions and client presentations here.